In their May 2009 survey, UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry, found that about half their members (show owners from around the world) said they had discounted their booth space costs within the last several months.  The discount was on average less than 10%.

If you’re a glass-is-half-empty thinker, you may think that this demonstrates how trade shows are being negatively affected by the global economic crisis. 

But if you’re a glass-is-half-full thinker, you could be happy that now you can reach a concentrated gathering of your best prospects at a discount.

Survey respondents were from 57 countries.  See the full report here.

Be ready to act when you're at a slow show.

Every once in a while you find yourself stuck at a slow show.  Perhaps the show is in a declining market, or it’s a new show yet to get established.  Maybe it’s the show city rotation, or it’s just the last day at an otherwise popular show.  Whatever the reason, you still want to make the most of it.  However, when the show is slow, it’s human nature for the staff to do one of two counter-productive things:

1. Start talking to each other.

The people you bring to staff the booth are usually the most outgoing people you have. So after 30 seconds of staring down the aisle, they get bored and want to talk to someone. Hey look, there’s someone to talk to, your fellow booth staffer!  Chief conversation topics:  Where are we going for dinner tonight, and boy does this show stink (which can become a self-fulfilling prophecy).  The problem is, now you’ve got two staffers out of commission.  It takes discipline and patience to instead resist the temptation to “chat amongst ourselves.”

2. Pounce on every passerby.
It’s slow, so go for the gusto and grab every attendee! We need to get a return from our investment at the show! Well, that may get a conversation started, but you won’t start a good relationship through intimidation.

Instead, wait for the solitary attendee to make eye contact with you (as you’ve been patiently waiting for them, instead of talking with your fellow booth staffer). Once (and if) they look at you, have your best smile ready, and ask a good engaging question, such as “Are you familiar with (Your Company Name)?”  That way you can start a conversation that will lead somewhere.  If they didn’t look at you, well, they may come back on their return trip.

When the traffic is slow, avoid chatting with your own staffers and pouncing on the rare attendee.  That way you get the most out of the traffic you do have.  And anyway, whether it’s slow or busy, you can only talk to one person at a time.

I was inspired by a post on the otisregrets blog about a trip to a slow trade show to write this post.

1. Align your trade show goals with your overall marketing and company goals
2. Create goals that are specific, measurable, and timely
3. Pay early to avoid rush charges and (surprisingly high) late fees
4. Booth space rental is about one-third your budget, for the rest invest more in areas that give you the best R.O.I.
5. Pick shows with an audience that best matches your target market
6. Go back to the highest R.O.I. shows from previous years
7. Design your exhibit to boldly and clearly communicate who you are, what you sell, and why your prospects should buy from you
8. Design your exhibit to support your booth staffers as a workspace…and work to keep your ongoing expenses down
9. Reach out to attendees before the show, via phone, email, mail, ads, and the web
10. Offer attendees something of value (information, presentations, demonstration, show specials, giveaways) in exchange for a visit
11. Select motivated, friendly, knowledgeable booth staffers
12. Train your staffers to handle the steps to shorter trade show interactions: engage, present, qualify, and close
13. Capture at-show, on paper or electronically, the prospect info your sales team needs after the show — and then give it to them after the show
14. Before the show even starts, prepare a person, materials, and a database to fulfill your leads…and an all-out effort ready to follow up leads after the show
15. Plan ahead to give yourself more time to adapt to problems, especially for international shows
16. Take a binder with all your contracts and contacts with you to the show, including graphic art files on a thumb drive if your display gets lost

Like the list? Will use it? Think we missed something essential? Click now to share your comments.

Find job opportunities at trade shows

With unemployment now at its highest levels in many years and millions of people out of work, perhaps it’s time for the unemployed to go to a trade show. 

Networking has long been a big reason why people attend a trade show.  In today’s economy, trade shows are a great place to look for jobs that have not been published on company websites.  See this article here on the MN Headhunter’s blog site, which also gives advice on how to find trade shows to market yourself at, and how to prepare for networking there.

The Myriad Banner Stand offers trade show exhibitors an elegant, streamlined banner stand or 10-foot display, merchandising capability, amazing flexibility, and all shipped in a smart protective case.  See all it can do for yourself with this video showing the set up and pack down of the Myriad Banner Stand.  

Click to learn more about the Myriad Banner Stand.

The Center for Exhibition Industry Research found in their new study, ”The Cost Effectiveness of Exhibi­tion Participation,” that the average cost to identify a prospect and close a sale using exhibitions is $2,188.40. (Meetings and Conventions magazine helped CEIR get to the correct number — see their story here.)  That’s about 42% less than the $3,102.10 average cost to get and close a sale when not using exhibitions.

Why so much less?  Not only are trade shows a great place to meet a lot of qualified prospects in a short amount of time, but they also are a great medium for quickly advancing the sales cycle.  When you have a prospect at a show, they tend to be more qualified buyers, because they actually paid their own way to come see all the product choices at the show.  Your booth staffers are able to ask qualifying questions and present only what matters to your attendees.  Moreover, your booth staffers have a trade show exhibit to back up their presentations, complete with visual aids to tell their story with more memorability and impact. 

Therefore, leads from trade shows therefore don’t need as much follow up to close, keeping overall sales costs down even after the show ends.  Keep this compelling value of trade shows in mind as you evaluate your marketing choices.

You can read more about it in CEIR’s two-part study, The Cost Effectiveness of Exhibition Participation, at www.ceir.org.

Read more about it at the Successful Meetings website here.